Creative Writing

As one of only seven universities nationwide to offer a BFA in creative writing, UE's creative writing program ranks among the country's best.

News

UE Coffee Hour Lecture Series Planned for 2014-2015

Posted: September 10, 2014

The University of Evansville’s 2014-15 annual Creative Writing Coffee Hour Lecture series begins Thursday, September 18. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public, and will be at 4:00 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery at the University.

The speaker for the first Coffee Hour will be poet Erica Dawson. Her poetry collection, Big Eyed Afraid, won the 2006 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize. Her second book of poetry, The Small Blades Hurt, was published in January 2014. Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies. Dawson is an assistant professor of English and writing at the University of Tampa.

Other lectures planned for this series include:

¨October 16: Novelist Ben H. Winters, an instructor at Butler University. Winters’s latest novel, Countdown City, was an NPR Best Book of 2013 and nominee for the Philip K. Dick Award. His earlier novel, The Last Policeman, won the 2012 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. It was also named one of the Best Books of 112 by Amazon.com and Slate.

¨October 23: Catherine Tufariello, poet-in-residence at Christ College, the honors college of Valparaiso University. Tufariello is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Annunciations and Free Time. Her full-length collection, Keeping My Name, received 2006 Poets’ Prize and was a Booklist Editors Choice.

¨April 16: Margaret McMullan, professor of creative writing and the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing at UE. McMullan is the author of several award-winning adult and young adult novels. She has received an NEA Fellowship in Literature, a Fulbright at the University of Pecs in Hungary, and the Eugene and Marilyn Glick National Authors Award.

¨April 23 Senior Reading: UE graduating creative writing majors will read from their poetry and prose. The University’s Department of Creative Writing will also announce winners of the Virginia Grabill Writing Awards.

For more information on these events, call 812-488-2963.

Creative Writing Majors Published in New Anthology

Posted: August 26, 2014

UE creative writing majors Jane Friedman ‘98, Johanna Gohmann ’98, and Jessica Russell-Pope ’13, have all had essays included in a new anthology, Every Father’s Daughter, to be published in the spring of 2015 by McPherson & Company, New York.

UE creative writing major Jessica Russell-Pope ’13 also served as copyeditor for the manuscript during her senior year Independent Study with Professor McMullan.

Professor McMullan and Professor Lopate taught together in 1993, when Professor Lopate came to UE as a visiting writer. Professor Lopate currently directs the MFA program in Creative Nonfiction at Columbia University in New York. Professor McMullan is the Melvin M. Peterson Endowed Chair in Literature and Writing.

In April, Professors McMullan and Lopate will host a panel event at the AWP in Minneapolis, MN with readings from anthology contributors Joyce Maynard, Ann Hood, Jayne Anne Phillips and Jill McCorkle.

UE Coffee Hour Reading to Feature Paul Bone

Posted: November 4, 2013

On Thursday, November 7, the University of Evansville’s Department of Creative Writing will feature department chair Paul Bone in its Coffee Hour series, which hosts celebrated writers for afternoon readings of their published works.

Each Coffee Hour begins at 4 p.m. in the Melvin Peterson Gallery at the corner of Lincoln and Weinbach avenues. Coffee and cookies will be served, and the authors will be available afterward for conversation and book signings. Coffee Hours are free and open to the public.

Bone is the author of the poetry collections Momentary Vision of the Assistant Meteorologist (Uccelli Press), which won the 2004 Uccelli Prize, and Nostalgia for Sacrifice (David Robert Books). His poems, reviews, creative nonfiction, and radio essays have been published in 32 Poems, The Cream City Review, The Cimarron Review, The Iron Horse Literary Review, The Evansville Review, Tupelo Press, and National Public Radio.

Bone earned a Bachelor of Arts from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. After completing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Arkansas, he taught English in Tokyo, Japan. Bone currently serves as chair of UE’s Department of Creative Writing and is one of the founding co-editors of Measure: A Review of Formal Poetry.